Minnie Riperton possessed a five-octave vocal range, enabling her to sing in whistle register, famously demonstrated on her 1975 hit single “Lovin’ You”. Born in Chicago, she received operatic vocal training from Marion Jeffery. Under the alias Andrea Davis she recorded

local hit “Lonely Girl” in 1966. Before embarking on a solo career, she joined the group Rotary Connection.

In 1973, she began working with Wonderlove, Stevie Wonder’s backing group.

A year later he producing her Perfect Angel album, and contributed two original compositions. “Loving You”, written by Minnie and her husband Richard Rudolph, brought her international success, reaching the U.S. #1 spot and the U.K. #2 chart position in 1975.

In January 1976, Minnie was diagnosed with breast cancer

and underwent a mastectomy. The next year she became chairman of the American Cancer Society. In 1978, she received the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award presented to her at the White House by President Jimmy Carter.

Minnie

continued to perform and record until she was

bed confined. She died from cancer on July 12, 1979 at the age of 31. Her daughter is actress Maya Rudolph.

Patti Austin made her Apollo Theater debut at the age of 4 on a dare. “We went to see the Apollo to see Dinah Washington,” said Austin, who often met renowned musicians growing up through her musical father, a professional trombone player. With some precociousness, Austin ended up on stage. “Dinah dared me to sang, I sang, and I finished singing and ran off the stage. The audience liked it, and I liked that they liked it, and I ran into the arms of a guy who was on one knee in the wing.” That guy was Sammy Davis Jr., who asked her parents if she could do his show the following week, and a robust musical career was born.

Austin has released 17 solo albums and has performed with the likes of Michael Jackson and Paul Simon. She won a Grammy in 2008 for best jazz vocal for her album “Avant Gershwin.”

In an interview with Lois Reitzes, Austin discussed her relationship with her godfather Quincy Jones, Johnny Mathis and her two musical idols, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland. Austin first saw Garland perform at age 13. Regardless of Garland’s dwindling technical ability at the time, Austin said that performance totally changed her life. “None of her technical ability matter because there was so much soul and so much heart and so much skill. And I had never seen someone perform that way,” said Austin. “She had to act her way through stuff, and she was brilliant at it.”